CHAPTER 308: SHADOW

"ROAR!"

A roar exploded nearby, making Darian snap his head around. His eyes went wide — up on the peak of a sand dune, a creature leapt and spread its wings.

That thing shot through the skies straight at him with fury.

He froze — it was less than a hundred meters away! How the hell hadn’t he sensed it before?

With a flick of his hands, two daggers appeared. The moonlight made it easier to see the creature up close.

It looked like a white serpent, covered in feathers, with a pair of massive wings. Over twenty meters long. A strange beast — but it radiated a powerful, oppressive lineage.

"No karma... wait! That thing isn’t alive!"

Darian remembered what he saw on the ship — it was the same as those two demons.

"Rhaaagh!"

The creature swooped down, less than ten meters above him. With a roar, its body lashed out like a whip.

*BOOM!*

Darian sidestepped fast. At the same time, his daggers filled with black power and he slashed.

"!"

The blades struck its scales... but didn’t even scratch them.

The winged serpent countered right away, whipping its body again in a violent strike.

Darian felt extreme danger. With a snarl, his eyes flared and his body pulsed.

The space around him cracked. His stellar physique was fully unleashed, and the Yin star’s power flooded him all at once. His body turned pitch black, and his eyes burned red like embers.

He punched!

**CRACK!**

The impact was brutal — the sound wasn’t his bones, but the creature’s scales and body shattering.

It flew back ten meters. A muffled roar came from it. Not pain — fury. It tried to rise and take off again, but Darian charged like a black lightning bolt.

*BANG! BANG!*

His strikes landed right on the wing joints, breaking what seemed like bones.

The beast reacted, jaws opening wide. But it wasn’t to bite — an intense red glow gathered inside... fire!

Darian reacted instantly, punching the creature’s jaw. Its mouth slammed shut violently, the sound of bones snapping echoing out.

That thing wasn’t alive. It was like some necromancer’s creation, but different — no trace of life at all. That’s why his black power hadn’t worked: for the first time, he couldn’t rely on it to kill directly.

If it was some kind of undead, then something inside it was keeping it active. Darian began hammering strikes nonstop, searching for the weak point in its body.

The scene was brutal: he smashed the creature’s body over and over without pause. But the enemy, immune to pain, kept counterattacking in a vicious dance.

Luckily, Darian’s physique gave him enough defense to withstand it without serious damage.

Because it was so big, it took a while. After more than twenty attacks, he finally hit something unusual.

At the very bottom of its body, one punch struck a spot that released a strange energy. The next second, the beast lost all strength and collapsed, completely motionless.

Darian was panting.

Then, he thought of the system.

[Demonic Shadow available]

[Use Essence Absorption?] [Yes / No]

He confirmed. A bluish light appeared from the void and wrapped the serpent.

[Processing...]

[Law of Fire added for use]

[Available daily uses: 02]

[Time to restore charges: 23H : 59M]

Darian’s eyes lit up with excitement. Essence Absorption was seriously insane!

Normally, everyone had to grind points and level up to get something like this. But him... he could gain upgrades daily.

"Well... the skill description did say it was a ’chance’. Guess I got lucky on the first try. Won’t always work. Still, totally worth finishing that special mission!"

Now, he was sure he had to focus on clearing the special missions. The longer he stayed in this world, the more his power to complete the Trial would multiply. After a while, the difference between him and the other competitors would be like heaven and earth.

If the next special mission rewards were anything similar, his growth would be terrifying... that is, if he had enough time. His scary competitor was already far ahead.

"... so that’s a Demonic Shadow... since I’m on the Yin side of the desert, logically, on the other side there must be Celestial Shadows."

Darian muttered in thought. Besides the competitors, those shadows were a huge threat. He couldn’t sense them and couldn’t rely on black power. If a really strong one popped up out of nowhere, he was screwed.

But... where there are hunters, there are prey. Remira mentioned there were cities and villages. Since the desert was vast, those shadows probably hunted where the flow of people was steadier.

Which meant... he was getting close to such a place.

Darian kept moving in the same direction.

An hour later...

"!"

"Kyaaarargh..."

Darian froze mid-step, startled. Right in front of him was definitely another Demonic Shadow, but...

It was humanoid — a tall, strong man with the multicolored hair typical of a Chromaraic.

Darian instantly connected the dots. Since he was a Spiritual Guardian and had already fought against the Risen, it was obvious what was going on.

"These shadows... are the dead competitors?"

He snorted, and without delay, thought of the system.

Confirmed. Right after, several fire runes appeared all around him.

Darian activated his ring and precisely controlled that elemental power. A massive fireball formed before him. With a wave, he sent it forward.

*BOOOM!*

This time, no hesitation. As soon as the explosion went off, he charged in with his stellar physique already unleashed.

Through the flames, he spotted the creature roaring, completely scorched, yet still ’alive’.

Now that he knew what to look for, he sensed that same strange energy from before inside its body. In this case, it was located right below the navel — the so-called Dantian.

Luckily, this one was just as weak. Without hesitation, he punched and shattered the spot, making the shadow freeze still.

"Damn... shame I can only use that skill once a day..."

Darian muttered, then focused on the lifeless body, searching. Since it was humanoid, if he was lucky...

"Found it!"

He pulled out a small crystal from near its waist. A spatial energy flowed from it. Just like a spatial ring, able to store things.

Darian sensed its contents, excited...

"Pills... weapons... what’s this?"

He found a piece of paper rolled like a scroll. He yanked it out and unrolled it quickly.

His eyes lit up. "A map..."

Several points were neatly drawn with clear markings.

There was a sun and a moon at opposite ends of the sketch. Darian had already been in this world for several days and noticed something: the sun and the moon always appeared from the exact same spot every day and vanished the same way. The map used their fixed positions to indicate locations precisely.

He turned, checked the moon’s position. Comparing it to the map’s markings, he realized where he needed to go — west from where he was. According to the map, he’d reach an area with a small village... and further ahead...

"Looks like a mine."

There were letters he couldn’t read, but also a drawing of something round, like rocks or crystals.

The mine was very close to the village, which must have been built nearby on purpose. Everyone living there probably carried one of those maps to avoid getting lost.

Darian turned toward the direction indicated and set out without delay.

...

A few hours later, the moonlight suddenly vanished.

The next instant, a red sun rose on the opposite side of the sky. One second it was pitch black night, the next it was as bright as midday.

The Primordial Yin and Yang across the desert stirred. During that time, Darian hadn’t encountered any shadow or competitor. But up ahead, a village came faintly into view, far, far away.

He quickened his pace.

But as he drew closer... once the village entered the range of his senses, he stopped.

"No one’s here?"

He felt it clearly — the village was completely empty, no life at all.

He snorted, disappointed. Then he pulled the map again, searching for the mine’s direction. He needed to check that too.

The location was east of the village, not too far.

After walking for half an hour that way, he stopped again.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, he sensed thousands of people far ahead. And also...

He saw a subtle energy rising into the sky from that direction. It was Yin, but not the primordial kind of this place.

"Death Yin... a battle? No, with that many... it’s a war. Perfect, let’s see." He grinned and dashed forward.

Where there’s conflict and blood, there are always valuables being fought over. And if, by chance, everything suddenly vanished like magic... well, the enemies would take the blame, right?